Salesforce CPQ Blog

We can’t stop thinking about what an amazing experience Dreamforce 2016 was. For the Salesforce Quote-to-Cash team this was our very first Dreamforce as part of the Salesforce Ohana! Although many of us are multi-year Dreamforce veterans, this time it was different. For one thing, it was the debut of the new Salesforce Quote-to-Cash solution including previews of our Winter '17 Salesforce CPQ and Salesforce Billing products. We shared our innovation roadmap which will feature new intelligence powered by Salesforce Einstein. And we showed how Salesforce CPQ is now tightly coupled with our Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud offerings, providing our customers with lead to cash automation all on Salesforce.

The Salesforce Quote-to-Cash team loves working together to support the causes that are important to us (just check out our Instagram feed). There is no better place than at Dreamforce for you to join us in making a difference!

We define quote-to-cash as the complete set of business processes involved in selling, from creating initial offers for prospects to collecting cash. Quote-to-cash begins with Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ)—configuring the offer, developing the appropriate pricing, and creating the quote. It continues on through negotiations, invoicing, payment, and even renewals and renegotiations.

I have participated in every Dreamforce since 2008 and each year I ask myself “How can it possibly get any better?” But each year, the bar gets raised -- the keynotes get more spectacular, the sessions get more engaging, the parties get more outrageous, and the overall fun factor explodes to new levels!

You feel the pain points with your current CPQ process but have you taken the time to figure out what’s not working?

Solving your Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) challenges is easy to do once you’ve identified the problems with your current approach. We’re making it simple by providing a list of the top five biggest CPQ challenges businesses face today.

Sales used to be strictly a relationships game. You hired people for their Rolodex and the access to new business it gave your company. While relationships are still hugely significant, the rise of the Internet has brought about other elements. According to Forrester, 74% of business buyers now conduct more than half of their research online before making an offline purchase. Selling has to change because buying has changed.

Last week our Sales, Sales Ops, Leadership, Product, Services, Customer Success, Marketing and Solution Engineering teams all got together in Chicago to gear up for the second half of the year.

3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, a few rain showers and a couple of drinks later, SteelBrick is recharged and ready to take on the rest of 2016. Share in the excitement with us as we take a look back at our latest SKO.